Chapter 132: The Halo of Life

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Zhou Shu had never expected to receive a mission like this.

But the moment he heard it involved hunting monsters, he had no objections. After all, finding monsters in the country had become incredibly difficult.

The Director had said that some of them had escaped, and some of those had fled to District 11.

Those that had remained behind were hiding deeply as well. In any case, they certainly would not dare show themselves anytime soon. They were afraid that the Demon Suppression Bureau would strike while the iron was hot.

So, for at least a month or two, Zhou Shu would most likely be unable to obtain any energy replenishment within the country.

And so he accepted the mission.

The mission would take place after the National College Entrance Examination, since the technical personnel needed to be selected, and that would take time.

After all, this was an overseas mission. Although they would be going to the Great Qin military base stationed in District 11, they would still come into contact with personnel from District 11.

The combat armor also needed to be assembled. Some suits were needed domestically, while others required modification. All of that would take time.

Fortunately, none of it would interfere with Zhou Shu’s examination.

The school gave them two days off before the exam. Zhou Shu spent one of those days at the Demon Suppression Bureau and the other at home.

Just when he thought he would be unable to obtain any energy replenishment within the country, it arrived.

It came in the form of a demon hunter’s benefits: enhancement potions made by extracting energy from monsters, used to strengthen demon hunters.

According to past records, novice demon hunters would only enter a period of rapid growth after using these potions. Zhou Shu’s rate of improvement, however, was so absurd that the Demon Suppression Bureau had truly never seen anything like it.

Still, he was entitled to what he was entitled to.

After learning of this, Zhou Shu immediately exchanged his points for more than a dozen energy potions.

According to regulations, he was not allowed to collect so many at once. However, after the higher-ups held a meeting, Zhou Shu still managed to get them.

Normally, technical personnel would have to adjust the potions according to his physical condition before he could use them. Zhou Shu did not use them at the Demon Suppression Bureau, though. He took them home instead.

Wang Kailun repeatedly warned him not to experiment on his own, saying that things could easily become dangerous if something went wrong. Zhou Shu naturally agreed wholeheartedly.

But the moment he turned around, he placed a drop on his fingertip.

Hunter’s analysis confirmed that the potions did indeed contain source essence energy. This proved that the superpowered individuals on Earth also grew stronger by utilizing source essence, although compared with Zhou Shu, their efficiency and technology were both rather primitive.

There was a benefit to that, however: more superpowered individuals could use the method. The energy absorption and utilization of the Hunter System, on the other hand, served only him.

Thus, he directly absorbed most of the energy, replenishing his own reserves to some extent. He gave the final potion to Huahua.

He wanted Huahua to become stronger.

Actually, Huahua had an energy quota after registering with the Demon Suppression Bureau. But it neither took the initiative to attack nor accepted assignments from the Bureau, so it would have had to wait an extremely long time.

Now there was no need for such trouble. Zhou Shu could simply give the potion to her.

The reason he gave her only one was that Huahua needed time to absorb it and could not possibly use a second one so soon.

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By the time Huahua was able to use a second potion, Zhou Shu should have accumulated another large batch of points.

When the day of the National College Entrance Examination arrived, the entire Great Qin was tense from top to bottom. Since the Demon Suppression Bureau had stepped into the public eye, it too had begun showing its nervousness openly.

In the past, they had been nervous as well, but all of it had taken place behind the scenes.

Now, they had eliminated the Ascension Society. Any monster, demon, or ghost with a functioning brain would certainly not dare cause trouble.

But what if there happened to be one without a functioning brain?

Every examination venue was equipped with protective measures to prevent accidents.

The venue where Zhou Shu was taking the exam, however, had not made too many preparations. After all, Zhou Shu was sitting right there. He himself was the most reliable protective measure of all.

As for the examination questions, they were far too simple for Zhou Shu. He could only shake his head as he looked at them.

Could they not come up with something more difficult?

If the questions were this easy, and he ended up tied for first place with someone else, then what meaning would the title of top scorer have?

When the examination ended, he was the first person to leave the venue. Seeing him shaking his head expressionlessly at the entrance, the people waiting outside assumed that he had performed poorly.

Even classmates who knew him tried to comfort him.

“Don’t be nervous. Relax. With your ability, all you need to do is perform normally. We all thought this year’s questions were really difficult.”

“Exactly. Your score might be low, but ours will probably be even lower. If everyone’s scores drop, then in the end, nothing has really changed.”

Zhou Shu was left speechless by this. He could hardly tell them that he thought the questions were too easy.

The two-day examination ended without incident. It seemed there were no brainless monsters, demons, or ghosts in the country.

Or perhaps the brainless ones had died long ago. Any creature that had survived was bound to be highly shrewd.

The students who had finished the examination were able to relax completely, but Zhou Shu became busy instead, so he declined many class gatherings.

He was already impatient to go hunting monsters in District 11, because he had already... squandered all his source essence energy.

The more than ten energy potions had increased his source essence energy by only 4.3 units. Added to what he already possessed, that made a total of 17.45 units, all of which he used up in two sessions.

The increase in his attributes and special abilities was considerable. He had become stronger than ever before!

[Hunter System]

[User: Zhou Shu (Recruit)]

[Spirit: 7.14 (Limit)]

[Strength: 6.39 (Limit)]

[Agility: 6.50 (Limit)]

[Endurance: 6.46 (Limit)]

[Physique: 7.19 (Limit)]

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[Special Abilities: Bullet Time, Anomaly Perception, Telekinesis (79% Available)]

[Weapon Proficiency: Firearms (66% Mastery), Powered Exoskeleton Operation (45% Mastery)]

[Support Equipment: One Elite Powered Exoskeleton Combat Suit (Good Condition)]

[Source Essence: 0.63]

After two high-intensity virtual training sessions, the entire structure of his attributes had undergone a drastic transformation. For the first time, his physique surpassed his spirit and became his highest attribute.

This was mainly because he had gone through a total of 274 cycles during the two training sessions, yet his spirit had increased by only 1.98 units.

There was nothing he could do about it. He was already so powerful, yet he still could not completely eliminate the Aberrant Queen. Its abilities were simply too disgusting.

As a result, even Zhou Shu’s spirit had developed resistance to growth.

The Aberrant Queen was like a piece of chewing gum that had been chewed for five hours. It had long since lost its flavor, yet because of the mission, he could not spit it out.

It was that unpleasant.

The same applied to his other attributes. They had essentially developed resistance as well. Fighting the Aberrant Queen one-on-one could no longer make them rise at breakneck speed.

The increase this time might look substantial, but it was built upon a far greater number of cycles. In reality, no attribute had increased more than his physique, which was why physique had taken first place.

And that was also because the Aberrant Queen was so durable.

If it had not been so tough, Zhou Shu could not have gained so much “experience” from it.

The Aberrant Queen’s average attribute was below five. The fact that it could sustain his attributes reaching six and seven was already extraordinarily impressive.

Telekinesis had also encountered a bottleneck. It did not break directly through to the “Powerful” level as Zhou Shu had expected.

However, as his attributes continued to rise—seeing all of them surpass five, all of them surpass six, and some even surpass seven—Zhou Shu sensed the existence of another ability.

This ability was not a special ability, however. It emerged naturally once life had become powerful enough.

It resembled the materialization of a life magnetic field. It was also like a further evolution of the radiance of life. More than anything, it seemed to be a kind of life domain.

Its existence affected Zhou Shu’s use of electronic devices.

Take the Demon Suppression Bureau’s smart watch, for example. Every aspect of its protection was extremely advanced, exceeding even military standards. Yet after this domain appeared, Zhou Shu discovered that its signal had deteriorated. Mosaic patterns even began appearing across the screen.

Under certain circumstances, Zhou Shu could genuinely see a layer of radiance surrounding his body.

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